Red Cross Honors The Area’s Real-Life Angels

Skip the feathery wings, the golden halos, the pristine grins. Human beings may just be the very best angels of all.

Next week the American Red Cross will honor 31 real-life angels who have risked their lives or given unselfishly to others. This year, in the aftermath of the Fairchild tragedies, the number of honorees is particularly high, says Courtney Susemiehl, Red Cross spokeswoman.

“If we don’t reach out to other people and try to help when help is needed, then I think we’re missing the reason we’re here,” says Susemiehl.

The Red Cross will present Lifesaver Awards to 31 people at a 6:30 p.m. banquet on Wednesday. The $50-per-ticket banquet at Cavanaugh’s Inn at the Park will benefit the Red Cross.

Among the earth-bound angels who will receive awards are Eva Payton Walch, the Spokane woman who acted as a human shield, protecting a little boy from Dean Mellberg’s bullets at Fairchild. Walch’s lower leg was amputated in December, but she has remained a compassionate and generous giver, inspiring others to support The Spokesman-Review’s Christmas Fund and other causes.

Seven Idaho men, Jerry and Jeff Everhart, Larry Loveless, Daren and Gary Parsons, Doug Hawkins and Charles Loeschen, will be honored for plunging into icy water to rescue victims of a car accident near Bonners Ferry on Nov. 25.

Tickets for the banquet, destined to be an evening right out of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” are available through Feb. 24. Call the Red Cross at 326-3330.

Tell them Clarence sent you.